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Time--2017 A to Z Theme

My theme for the 2017 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge was "Time". The posts are of a more philosophical, contemplative, and even autobiographical bent. No time management tips in this theme, but stuff intended to make you think.

Always a work in progress--welcome to my blog...

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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Keyboard Kings

If you were to ask me to name some of the greatest mathematicians of all time, one of the first people that would come to my mind would be J.S. Bach.

"What?" You may ask. "He was a composer and a musician!"

But, you see, I think of music as one of the purest most wonderful forms of mathematics. It's based on intervals, progressions, and combinations that can be expressed numerically as much as by lettered notes. I can see a work of music as a fantastic equation which deciphers some of life's deepest meanings. Listen to one of Bach's many works for keyboard and you might begin to understand what I am saying.

Mozart was an early showman who might be compared to being the Elton John of his day, if I may be so crass in saying. As a youngster, Mozart toured with his father throughout Europe and was famed for his keyboard wizardry.

Some later more serious composers such as Beethoven, Schubert, or Schumann were keyboard kings in their own right composing some of the greatest works for piano of all time. Then of course, there were the keyboard specialists like Chopin and Cesar Franck and the heralds of the romantic age of music, Brahms and Rachmaninov. There were the mystical sounds of the impressionists such as Debussy, Ravel, and Eric Satie.

Any discussion of keyboard kings would be incomplete without mentioning Franz Liszt, one of the first superstars of music. When Lisztomania swept Europe this popular artist played hundreds of sold out concerts during which women swooned and fought for articles of the musician's clothing. Some have said that Liszt would sometimes play the piano with such ferocity that the instrument would sometimes break, while other times he would play with such rapturous beauty that audiences would be entranced.

With the advent of the age of jazz many wonderful keyboardists came onto the scene. Artists such as Dave Brubeck, Erroll Garner, and Keith Jarrett have had illustrious careers playing their popular styles. The rock era has also seen many fine keyboardists like Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, and Nicky Hopkins.

A dear friend of mine has established himself in the Southern California area with his self-taught keyboard artistry. Sebastian Sidi has gained a sizable following playing concerts and other venues over the past decade. With seven CDs and two live concert DVDs, Sebastian has sold hundreds of thousands of copies without distribution from a record label. He is the equivalent to a self-published author and doing extremely well at it. He is certainly a Keyboard King in his geographical realm and he would love to take his musical message to the rest of the world.

Here is a sample of Sebastian in concert as he plays his own composition, "A Moment in Time":

Here is a promo video for his composition "The Ride":

For more information about Sebastian, his tour schedule, or purchasing his CDs and DVDs, you can visit his website.

And of course let us not forget the other royalty of the keyboards--me and all of you as we type away at our blog entries for A to Z. How are your fingers holding out so far?

Most people don't make the connection between math and music. It was one of the keynote points I made during a presentation to our local school board on the importance of fine arts education. Great post! Kat

I've played piano since I was first able to climb up on the piano stool - but I play by ear, never had a lesson in my life! Yet I only have to hear a tune and I can replicate it - much to the annoyance of OH and the kids, who all had musical training!

Lee... thanks for the post.. I appreciate the plug... but most importnatly CONGRATULAIIONS on your Blog... look how far you have gone!! AMAZING!!! you always have some much to talk about.. Again, congrats !!

Dafeenah -- Hope you can hear it. I've heard about problems with Firefox. Lately I've been using Google Chrome with pretty good results. Always something though isn't it.

L.A. -- I would definitely go see that show!

Becca -- Yes, there has been some great musical talent over the last few centuries.

Laura -- Math and art in perfect tandem!

Jacqueline -- Sebastian is very good in concert.

Karen --It's math without thinking of the math. Maybe playing the music will help your math skills.

Laura -- Music is a wonderful pastime.

Rachel -- I was impressed with Woodstock as well. It's a great concert documentary.

Sue H. -- maybe you can start a musical career like Sebastian. He was self-taught as well.

Sebastian --- Glad you got to see this. You may want to check back tomorrow and see the additional comments as there will probably be many more to come. Hope some folks will check out your website and your music as well. A new PBS special for 2012? Very cool! Looking forward to that and wish you much success with it.

Great analogy. I love music of all kinds and have always be amazed by those that can play instruments with such talent and skill... much like those that work the keyboards of blogging with talent and skill:-)

Fredamans-- I mostly listen to classical these days, but even when I was in college I frequently listened to it.

San -- So glad to hear that. All the creativity that we've been seeing has been pretty inspiring.

Busy91 -- Let me recommend Dave Brubeck and Don Shirley. They are jazzy, but also have classical backgrounds and play in very nice styles.

Brianna-- Sebastian is not afraid of self-promotion and he is good at it. He wins fans not only with his talent, but also with his caring personality and willingness to reach out to them. His industriousness in achieving success as a full-time musician has impressed and inspired me.

Wonderful! I absolutley adore classical music! ...I am horrible at math (can't count past 10 if I have shoes on!),but I know that mathematics is as natural as the earth..it just is and those who have figured out the formulas are amazingly smart..I learn so much from your posts Lee!

Bach was a GENIUS! When I studied music theory in college, we had to write a piece of music based on his chord progressions...it was INSANE! I love the Paritas, the Goldberg Variations, the orchestral suites and the suites for cello. I'm a big jazz fan, too. I have a wonderful box set of jazz pianists.

Mozart - wonderful!Keyboards are perhaps the easiest forms of making music - the note is there but making it on a string or through an embouchure is so much more difficult and technical. As for a kazoo - well, how good is your voice?

Writing Goddess -- Check Sebastian's website for his schedule of appearances. He's usually playing somewhere in the Los Angeles area at least once a week. Stop by to tell him hello and that you heard about him here on Tossing It Out.

Luana -- I agree about Bach's genius. My favorites are the Brandenburg Concertos.

Now that was very informative and I thank you for this.I'm going to check out the videos, later. I'm about to give you a bit of a hint as to how old I am. I had the great pleasure of seeing Emerson, Lake and Palmer perform their 'Brain Salad Surgery' concert in Vancouver, way back when. Rick Wakeman is now a regular guest on British game shows.And now then , my new buddy, I wonder what the 'L' is next in your fascinating 'Alphabet Challenge'? Heck dude, being the letter 'K' as in 'Klahanie', I even decided to have a bit of fun with it all :)Take care and enjoy.

Wow, you really through me for a loop with the post title, lol, and I like it!

I enjoy music from many of the composers that you wrote about here and watched the first Youtube video of your friend Sebastian. The music in that video is groovy!

I'm trying to get through 20 blogs a day but since last week, I've noticed that a LOT of bloggers are still using that captcha word verification and that delays my progress so much :(

Now, with my computer acting up and having visited yet another blog today that had that word verification, I'm going to have to lower my visits to 10 blogs a day because, well, I do have a job and other regular life duties that need to be tended to, so I wish that it were easier to comment on many of the participating blogs.

Over the weekend, I may boost up my visits just to get through as many as I can and bookmark or follow the blogs that I like and then just go back to those only for the remainder of the challenge....I dunno.

Hopefully, I can figure out a good visiting, reading, commenting routine :)

Oh, shoot, I just realized I started talking about the music and didn't even explain what I meant about the post title.

When I saw your "Keyboard Kings" title, I thought that your post was going to highlight either writers or authors whose work inspired you in some way OR other bloggers who have great accomplishments in the blogging arena OR blogging tips.

I thought it would be related to computer or laptop keyboards rather than piano keys...so you got me....it was clever and oh so good, lol! :)

It's funny--we in the special education business have known the connection between math and music for a long time. In fact, a lot of our learning disabled students have an easier time learning fractions if we explain it using music.

Klahanie -- Then you and I are probably of very similar age. I remember when Keith Emerson was playing with "The Nice". I never got to see ELP in concert, but friends who went told me about his "levitating piano". Rick Wakeman on game shows? Have you seen John Lydon's (aka Johnny Rotten) butter commercial. What happened?

Nicki -- Yes, Sebastian started out as a rock and roll drummer and then taught himself keyboard when he was in his teens.

Nicole -- Yes the dreaded word verification still lives on many blogs. I have overcome it since I have switched to using Google Chrome as my browser--it loads everything superfast and WV doesn't seem to be as much problem now.

Not -- I'm surprised more teachers don't use the music connection to make math more interesting and fun.

"Klahanie -- Then you and I are probably of very similar age. I remember when Keith Emerson was playing with "The Nice". I never got to see ELP in concert, but friends who went told me about his "levitating piano". Rick Wakeman on game shows? Have you seen John Lydon's (aka Johnny Rotten) butter commercial. What happened?"

Right then 'ELP, the year was 1973, I saw the 'levitating piano' and I saw Emerson thrash his organ to bits. Wait, that doesn't sound right:)Rick Wakeman appears fairly often on a game show called 'Countdown'. I have indeed seen 'Johnny Rotten' acting as an ironic 'country gentleman' in that ad :)

Oh, I'm so sorry to have missed this April blogging challenge! But at least I can return to yours and follow along each day. Nice to meet you. I found you through a blog author on the {in}courage community. I look forward to reading the rest of the alphabet here!Carrie

Kari -- Mozart's music is great. Though Sebastian's PBS special has shown on various stations throughout the U.S. you probably wouldn't have encountered him unless you were in the Southern California area.

Klahanie -- 1973 I was in my 4th year of college and in my concert going heyday when topnotch concerts could be seen for $6 or less. Those were some great times for music.

Doris -- Sebastian is dedicated and is a good example of what can be accomplished through persistence in achieving his dreams and a total love of his talent and artistry.

Amy -- Thanks

Carrie -- Thank you for stopping by. I left you a message on your blog post for today.

My fingers are okay despite suffering from carpal tunnel; my eyes still see beauty despite battling with insomia; my mind is still working despite being knocked heavily for word of the day. Meaning, my heart is really happy with A to Z!

I didn't take you seriously when you say that this is a challenge. Really challenging! But hey how could it be fun without the challenge?

Lee, great title and Sebastian is extremely talented. I always wanted to play the piano and made the mistake of taking lessons while I was pregnant with my second child. My focus was slightly off then, and our piano is still collecting dust. Thanks for the very informative piece. Julie

Hi Lee .. I loved the music .. I do hope he goes places .. but the music and maths .. I never really realised the connection til 15 years ago or so .. and have bought some books on the subject .. as it just made so much sense. Sadly I'm neither musical nor mathematically inclined .. but I am creative and so can see and feel things .. even if not quite connectively with it! Thanks .. inspired me this post ..

Go ahead and say something. Don't be afraid to speak your mind.I normally try to respond to all comments in the comment section so please remember to check the "Email follow-up comments" box if you want to participate in the comment conversation.

For Battle of the Bands voting the "Anonymous" commenting option has been made available though this version is the least preferred. If voting using "anonymous" please include in your comment your name (first only is okay) and city you are voting from and the reason you chose the artist you did.

If you know me and want to comment but don't want to do it here, then you can send me an email @ jacksonlee51 at aol dot com.

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A juggler of words and phrases. My main blog is Tossing It Out. The focus blog for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge can now be found at a-to-zchallenge.com where updates will be posted until the event in April begins.
Wrote By Rote is about memoir writing.
A Few Words is my Sunday contemplation blog.
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